Issue details

Proposed Decision:

To permanently close Blackburn Lodge Care Home

Background

Blackburn Lodge is a detached, 34-bed, council owned residential care home and older person’s day care centre in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. The site offered residential care, respite care, assessment/rehabilitation, and a day care centre. There was some provision for short term dementia care although the limitations of the building restricted the ability to deliver longer term dementia care.

In November 2023 Blackburn Lodge was temporarily closed because of emergency health and safety concerns. A safety inspection identified high levels of iron in the piped water (20x permitted levels). The 13 permanent residents were moved to alternative residential accommodation because it was not safe for them to stay at Blackburn Lodge. In addition, the older people’s day care service was also temporarily suspended. It was necessary to de-register Blackburn Lodge with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) because once temporarily closed it was no longer able to provide a service.

Despite a programme of improvement works in recent years there are a number of building issues, including subsidence, which will require considerable investment and time to rectify to bring the building up to current CQC standards and make the building fit for the future.The regulator, The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has said that Blackburn Lodge would not meet the current standards for registration as a care home if it were to be built today. Blackburn Lodge has no en-suite bathrooms, and the general layout makes access poor, and this limits who can stay there.

Blackburn Lodge’s offer is focused on medium level residential care, respite care, assessment/rehabilitation and day care. It cannot meet the higher levels of care needs of people who require dementia and/ or nursing care.

We are actively engaging with local businesses and organisations as well as local people to understand the future needs and develop services which meet the needs of local people and are fit for purpose. This work is important, as it will provide us with a good understanding of the future needs and opportunities for supporting people who live on the Isle of Sheppey, aligning with the vision for adult social care by working with communities and empowering people to find trusted help and support locally from a range of sources as well as commissioning services so that people experience flexible and creative ways of arranging support which enable a balance between choice for the person we support, quality and value.

We have been working hard with partners, including the local borough Council, to find solutions, including to develop local Extra-Care Housing for older people and additional daycare services are now available on the Island.

Meanwhile our Community Catalyst team continues exploring with residents and businesses the potential for further local support and care.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

Alternative options were considered by the council and are outlined in the public consultation documentation. These options are:

a)   Resolve building issues and return residential and day care services to Blackburn

Lodge.

Due to the age and decaying fabric of the building, it would require considerable investment to make Blackburn Lodge a safe and habitable environment.

Despite a programme of improvement works in recent years, there are a number of building issues including subsidence and the water pipe system, which will require considerable investment and time. It has been estimated that the cost of bringing Blackburn Lodge up to current CQC standards would be £4m and could take 13 months to complete from commencement of any work.

b)  Sell Blackburn Lodge as a going concern.

This would mean trying to find a private buyer for Blackburn Lodge who would continue to run it as a care home. This is not considered to be a realistic and viable option because the level of investment required to make the building fully fit for the future is likely to be prohibitive to investors. 

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

The proposed decision aligns with the ambitions set out in Framing Kent’s Future as set out in Priority 2: Infrastructure for Communities – ‘Challenge inappropriate development which does not have the appropriate physical or social infrastructure necessary to maintain the quality of life of new and existing Kent communities.’  It also aligns with Priority 4: New Models of Care and Support – ‘Explore options to ensure that residential care provision is fit for the future, responding to reduced levels of demand but increased levels of need and encouraging necessary growth in the specialist services segment of the market including for people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental health needs.’

How the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022 -2026: Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf

The proposed decision aligns with service transformation opportunities as outlined in Securing Kent’s Future to provide services that meet the needs of Kent residents whilst meeting our Best Value duty.

Financial Implications

Despite a programme of improvement works in recent years, there are a number of building issues, including subsidence, which will require considerable investment and time to rectify. It has been estimated that the cost of bringing Blackburn Lodge up to current CQC standards would be £4m and could take 13 months to complete from commencement of any work.

The council has sought advice from cost consultants to provide a cost per square metre rate that can be applied to give an approximate budget cost that would allow the building issues (e.g. electrical, fire, water) but also to allow for alterations required (i.e. providing en-suites bathrooms to each bedroom) to bring Blackburn Lodge up to current CQC standards. Calculations are as follows:

·   Heavy refurbishment rate (which allows for some alterations, ensuites etc.) £2,000 per m2

·   Total Floor area of Blackburn Lodge – 2,006 m2

·   Estimated cost - £4,012,000

Legal Implications

Staffing

Following legal advice, the 43 staff (44 contracts), staff employed at Blackburn Lodge were consulted separately and consequently have been redeployed or are on notice of redundancy. The basis for this is that even if the council were to commit to re-open Blackburn Lodge, the building would need considerable structural improvement that it is estimated would take a further 13 months (from a final decision being made in September 2024). It is therefore not reasonable for the council to continue to employ staff in their current roles.

Therefore, a staff consultation took place separately which ended on 3 April 2024. An end of consultation meeting took place on 16 April 2024 to which staff and unions were invited – on this date all staff were issued with notice of redundancy and given redeployee status.  Some employees have already been re-deployed, and others are no longer employed by KCC through redundancy. 

Building Landownership and Covenant

The land is freehold and subject to a restriction in favour of the Secretary of State of Defence to use for local authority education purposes which was amended in 1982 to permit Kent County Council “to use for local authority purposes which the Council deem necessary to enable the council to discharge its social function as carried out under the auspices of its director of Social Services”. If the above purpose of use should cease, a right to buy for £2,100 in addition to the value of any buildings erected on the property is triggered in favour of the Secretary of State.